Emergency draft appliance for automobiles.



E. H. KNOWLES. EMERGENCY DRAFT APPLIANCE FOR'AUTQMOBILES.

APPLICATION FILED AFR- 8, I915- Patented Jan.16, 1917.

UNITED STATES P1} TENT omen.-

ELIE H. KNOWLES, F MALONE, FLORIDA.

EMERGENCY DRAFTAPPLIANCE FOR AUTOMOBILES.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ELIE KNowLEs, a citizen of the United States; residing at Malone, in the county of Jackson and State of Florida, have invented a new and useful Emergency Draft Appliance for Automobiles; and Ido hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to an improved emergency draft appliance for automobiles and the like, and one which is simple and efiicient in construction and practical for the purpose intended, and may be easily and quickly applied to the automobile for extracting,the same from the mudand sand in the road.

In practical fields the details of construe:

tion may; necessitate alterations, falling.

set forth, shown in the drawings and showing the drum and the clamping meansin' operative position. Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the split clamping plate. Fig. 5 is a detailjseetional view through a portion of the split plate 5 and the flange of the drum 4, showing how the parts are secured together by the fastening devices 12.

Referring more especially to the draw- .ings, particularly 'Fig. 1, l designates an automobile, to the rear driving wheels 2 of which an emergency draft drum 3 is applied. This drum comprises two parts, the

.drum proper 4 (which fits telescopically on the hub of the wheel and acent the spokes thereof) and the clamping plate 5, which is split as shown at 6, so as to be arranged upon the inner end of the hub of the wheel and adjacent the spokes thereof. The

clamping plate 5 is provided. with a series of V-shaped lateral extension blocks 8, to fit. between the spokes of the wheel, to m- Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J an, 16, 1917 Application filed April 8, 1915. I

Serial No. 19,974.

sure rigidity between the Several parts.

This clamping plate 5 where said extension blocks are formed, and the flanges 7 of the drum proper are provided with 'T-shaped slots 9 and 10, the slots 9 being formed in the split plate-5, and the slot 10' in the flange of the drum. The inner opposite faces of the slots are beveled in opposite directions, as shown at 11, so that when the springfastening devices 12 (which are correspondingly shaped to the beveled walls passes over a pulley 15 of the anchoring device 16 for the cable and has its opposite end fastened at 17 to the front axle of the machine. Thus it will be observed, that when an automobile is stuck in the mud or a sand, the drum may be applied to the rear driving wheel as above-set forth, and the cable connected as shown in Fig. 1, and after which when starting the machine, it will automatically pull itself forwardly and upon the hard surface' of the road. The

anchoring device 16 comprises a plurality of 'main anchoring blades 18 and an auxiliary anchoring spike 19, which are driven in the road' or ground forward of the machine. These blades 18 are provided with tapering sockets 20 to receive the tapering end of the extension rods 21, and threaded through the extension -roads are threaded pins or studs 22 having nuts 23 upon their opposite ends, thereby constituting means to fasten the apertured bars or plates 24 to opposite sides of said extension rod. The upper portion of the rods 21 has apertures 25, through-,which a cable or rope 26 extends, one end of which hasa knot 27 to prevent it pulling through the aperture of one of said rods 21, while its other end is Se cured in a like manner as shown at 28 to the auxiliary anchoring spike 19.

The invention having been set forth, what is claimed as new and useful is:

An emergency draft windless for the pur-,

pose set forth provided with a flexible draft member, comprising a drum having an annular flange at its inner end and fitting over the outer end of the hub of a wheel with the flange in contact with the spoke, a plate consisting of two sections adjacent the inner face of the wheel and engaging the inner portion of the hub, said flange and the plate having registering radial T- shaped slots alternating with the spoke and having their T portions nearer the center of the hub, fastening means engaging theregistering slots to clamp the flange and the plate to opposite sides of the spokes, said fastening means comprising devices, each being constructed of a single strip of heavy sheet steel, bent upon itself midway its ends to form a loop having arms, which permanently engage each other a short distance, and beyond their engagement diverge outwardly and subsequently laterally in opposite directions for engaging the T-portions of the slots of said flange, the arms adjacent the loop being yieldable and engaging the T-porti0ns of the slots of said plate, thereby clamping the drum securely in place. 7

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

I ELIE H.. KNOWLES. W itnesses WV. G. BELL, N. B. SOLOMAN. 

